tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Feb 28 16:48:31 2006
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Re: quadrotriticale {loSpev}
- From: [email protected]
- Subject: Re: quadrotriticale {loSpev}
- Date: Tue, 28 Feb 2006 19:48:13 EST
In a message dated 2/28/2006 6:13:14 PM Central Standard Time,
[email protected] writes:
> I don't think Li2 is possible. Lithium has three electrons: two in the
> inner
> shell and one in the outer shell. To make a stable compound, it needs to
> have eight electrons (or none) in its outer shell. However, lithium only has
> one free electron to donate. As well, lithium has a tendency to donate
> rather than accept electrons.
>
> There have been a couple of fictitious chemical formulas for dilithium
> postulated. The simpler is Li2Te, or dilithium telluride. The more complex
> is Li2Fe7Al2Si8O27. Both are hypothetically possible, but it's unlikely that
> either actually has the fantastic properties that are ascribed to dilithium
> in Star Trek.
>
> >But neither substance (quadrotriticale nor dilithium) really appear
> >to have any practical purpose in spending bilions of dollars in develpment.
>
> Of course not. They're fictional substances used to further plots. I
> seriously doubt, for instance, that dilithium telluride is likely to be able
> to regulate a matter-antimatter reaction. (For more information on this,
> read "The Physics of Star Trek", by Lawrence Krauss.)
>
Dilithium could also refer to a transuranic element that resembles lithium in
some way, such as outer shell configuration. "Dilithium" would have to be a
nickname, though, I think, because we have numeric syllables to create
arbitrary chemical element names, such as unipentihexium, i.e., element 156.
lay'tel SIvten